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One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France
A celebration of the most enchanting hamlets in France, now available in a popular format. Gorgeously illustrated as well as informative, One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France is a tour through the pleasures of the French countryside, a place where the pace slows, locals engage strangers in conversation, and every town presents a unique set of curiosities waiting to be discovered. Whether you are an armchair traveler or a Francophile planning another trip, this volume is the guide to the hidden treasures of France that proves once and for all that the heart of this popular travel destination lies in the countryside far from the grandeur and pomp of Paris. Wander the serpentine alleyways of the rockbound coastal fishing villages in Brittany and Normandy; explore medieval masterpieces in Alsace and order flammekueche, this region’s thin-crusted pizza; spend a day in the Ile-de-France, the green surround of Paris, and visit the magnificent Château de Versailles, or the palace at Fontainebleau, a treasure trove of mannerist delights. One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France is a map to the heart and soul of the French countryside, complete with a full appendix of restaurants, hotels, and shops to aid even the most seasoned travelers and Francophiles.
- GenresTravelFranceNonfiction
280 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2006
1 person is currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Simonetta Greggio
44 books4 followersSimonetta Greggio is an Italian novelist who writes in French. Before turning to literature, she contributed as a journalist to several magazines such as City, Télérama, D. La Repubblica and Figaro Madame.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 31, 2018
This book takes you on an exquisite journey of charming towns rich in history and influenced by terrain and climate, bringing amazing stories of its history and culinary traditions, evoking human senses.
Riquewihr claims to be the pearl of the Alsace region. The town charms with its cobbled streets and the half-timbered houses of its vine growers.
Agen offers a story of Agen prunes produced from Ente plums, which have particular taste and consistency.
Bayonne once leading chocolate producer in the area, to spice up their declining production, combined chili from nearby Espelette, which has been cultivating chili since the 16th century; the result some spicy sweets as well as spiced ham.
…and the sublime journey continues through all the regions of France…
Riquewihr claims to be the pearl of the Alsace region. The town charms with its cobbled streets and the half-timbered houses of its vine growers.
Agen offers a story of Agen prunes produced from Ente plums, which have particular taste and consistency.
Bayonne once leading chocolate producer in the area, to spice up their declining production, combined chili from nearby Espelette, which has been cultivating chili since the 16th century; the result some spicy sweets as well as spiced ham.
…and the sublime journey continues through all the regions of France…
August 14, 2022
Goodreads lists three books in this series. (The other two are on Italy and Mexico.) However, there is another one, the one I came across, on Great Britain. So perhaps this review applies to the other three including this one on France. If not, apologies to the author. I’m assuming the publisher has a cookie cutter approach to the series. They usually do.
Anyway 101 towns in 251 pages -that goes by fast especially with a full page photo for each entry. And those photos tend to be of a single building or even interior, not getting the sense of the town overall. So although this is a coffee table book, its best use is as a screening tool to plan an itinerary for a trip to Great Britain, i. e., some of the short write-ups will pique your interest and you can then look elsewhere for greater detail.
Anyway 101 towns in 251 pages -that goes by fast especially with a full page photo for each entry. And those photos tend to be of a single building or even interior, not getting the sense of the town overall. So although this is a coffee table book, its best use is as a screening tool to plan an itinerary for a trip to Great Britain, i. e., some of the short write-ups will pique your interest and you can then look elsewhere for greater detail.
June 15, 2017
For some reason on GoodReads, One Hundred and One Beautiful Towns in France: Food & Wine and One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France are listed as the same book when they are different.
This review is for One Hundred and One Beautiful Towns in France: Food & Wine: 3/5. This was a nice enough coffee table book that seemed a bit confused. It would talk about beautiful architecture of say Dijon and then not include pictures of the specific buildings discussed, instead opting for an entire page picture a jar of mustard as if you've never seen mustard before. It seemed the book couldn't quite decide if it wanted to tell you about the place or the food of the place, and then would decide to show you whatever it hadn't told you about instead of what it had. But what really got my goat was that while my beloved Clermont-Ferrand got four pages instead of two, the second set of pages were only pictures of Vichy, which is a different town. Come on people!
This review is for One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France: 3.5/5. This was, in my opinion, a better coffee table book than its companion though, like its twin, it did also reference parts of the towns it talked about without showing them which seemed odd as this book as exclusively about, you know, that. However it was more uniform in what it was attempting to communicate and did include some wonderful pieces of French trivia that I didn't know, though I will have to look up the specifics online as rarely were their pictures for say the famous castle of a city that kings once lived in — because why would I want to see that in a book describing it? Pssh.
This review is for One Hundred and One Beautiful Towns in France: Food & Wine: 3/5. This was a nice enough coffee table book that seemed a bit confused. It would talk about beautiful architecture of say Dijon and then not include pictures of the specific buildings discussed, instead opting for an entire page picture a jar of mustard as if you've never seen mustard before. It seemed the book couldn't quite decide if it wanted to tell you about the place or the food of the place, and then would decide to show you whatever it hadn't told you about instead of what it had. But what really got my goat was that while my beloved Clermont-Ferrand got four pages instead of two, the second set of pages were only pictures of Vichy, which is a different town. Come on people!
This review is for One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France: 3.5/5. This was, in my opinion, a better coffee table book than its companion though, like its twin, it did also reference parts of the towns it talked about without showing them which seemed odd as this book as exclusively about, you know, that. However it was more uniform in what it was attempting to communicate and did include some wonderful pieces of French trivia that I didn't know, though I will have to look up the specifics online as rarely were their pictures for say the famous castle of a city that kings once lived in — because why would I want to see that in a book describing it? Pssh.
August 24, 2011
Photos excitante de mon pays favori . Que demander de plus pour souhaiter?
July 16, 2015
very helpful book as I was learning the many areas in France. The images are wonderful and the descriptions are very clear.
April 18, 2017
Beautifully photographed book that may help you plan to trip through France on your own! Simply lovely!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews